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Bouguereau / Dante and Virgil in Hell
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( After watching Nosferatu, I made a little tribute sketch... spooky! )
Anne Rice / Interview With A Vampire
The slave and the master vs. the human and the vampire.
Weaker vampires vs. stronger vampires
- Its discussed that vampires are lone predators. If they live together, it's only for protection, and one is a slave to the other. "That's how vampires increase, through slavery. How else!?"
- Claudia, the vampire daughter of Louis and Lestat wants so madly to kill Lestat. Lestat is in essence the slave owner who has robbed Claudia of experiencing a human childhood and ability to grow to womanhood. Her and Louis are somehow the only two vampires bonded in love, not slavery.
Vampires feeding off of animals vs. vampires feeding off of humans
Those who don't take the sanctity of death/life seriously vs. those who do
Killing a human for feeding vs. Killing a human and turning them into a vampire
Eastern European culture and vampires (wild and superstitious) vs. Western European culture and vampires (shrewd and proper)
Does the Author seem to priviledge one set of ideas or values over the other?
Anne Rice highlights the moral way to deal with necessary evil. Yes, the protagonist is turned into a Vampire, but he only kills humans when he has to and never on a whim. He takes death seriously and feeds on animals when he can. I suppose Anne Rice wants us to look at him as the "moral vampire." We can also look at slavery in the south in similar respects. "The moral slave owner" treats their slaves well, doesn't mistreat or abuse them on a whim. Inherently, slavery is evil of course, but in 1700s-1800s America it was necessary to run plantations and keep the southern economy functioning. Vampires have to feed on blood, and plantation owners have to have slaves to run the plantation. Anne Rice priviledges the set of ideas/values that encompasses mercy and kindness towards those who are in a lesser position of power. She also notes the importance of not denying your true nature, but rather finding responsibility in it.
"If I am damned, why do I pity her?"
(Louis before feeding on Claudia)
"You use knowledge for personal power."
(Louis accusing Lestat)
Louis wants to travel the world and uncover true nature of a vampire and to find others like him, Lestat, and Claudia. He is not satisfied with not knowing how Vampires came to be, having so much power and so little knowledge.
Lestat equates Louis's desire for knowing more about his nature with chasing after the phantoms of his former self. He accuses Louis of having a romance with the ways of his formal mortal life, and in this he is completely dead to understanding his vampire nature. Louis disagrees, but acknowledges that Lestat speaks the truth is some respects.
Lestat views Louis as weak, telling him that "evil is a point of view," imploring him to "do what is your nature to do."
Vampire Nature = Killing
"Let the flesh instruct the mind."
Does the story you read seem to embody larger arguments about the values of human society?
Does the work seem to express a simple morality on the surface, but a more complex moral
environment once one considers the issues it more depth?
"My vampire nature has been the greatest adventure of my life."
"I went through mortal life as a blind man. It was only for the first time when I became a vampire that I respected all life. I never knew what life was until it ran out in a red gush over my lips and hands."
(Louis)
What values does the work really seem to portray?
"You loved me with your vampire nature."
(Claudia to Louis upon learning how she came to be a vampire)
"I love you now with my human nature, if ever I had it."
(Louis in response to Claudia)
Jim Jarmusch / Only Lovers Left Alive
Your responses are super thoughtful and I enjoy reading them. I like how you compared different cultural associations with the vampire (Eastern and Western European), and how Lestat is the 'slave owner' in the group while her and Louis are able to be equals. I'm thinking a possible explanation is because they were both slaves to Lestat from the beginning and had formed a deep bond. Once they got rid of their 'master' they were able to go about their freedom however they wished while still retaining their lack of power dynamic.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your post. I like how you posed questions and answered them logically, with quotes, while still analyzing the text.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I always thought of the vampire as a very primal creature. Almost as if they lost their humanity when they were turned into the undead. They have no choice but to act on their need to feed on human blood. However, I like how you brought up the moral implications. This forces me to see the vampire as a man with his humanity, but forced into a condition that forces him to kill. What really struck home was the comparison between the morality of vampirism and slavery. It made a supernatural creature and the moral struggles that they face into a relatable subject.